Casualties.......

Here is part two of the continuing saga of the fish verses the Little Monkey.  For those of you who are just joining us, you can click here for the first installment.

Before we set the scene I must say one thing in Little Monkey's defense.  After we returned from our trip Mommy (that would be me) forgot to return the fish food to that really high shelf that Little Monkey cannot reach no matter how many toys she tries to stack up to climb on.  So, this is partly Mommy's fault.

Scene:

Middle of the night, Little Monkey's bedroom, all is quiet in the house (mommy and daddy are sleeping)
Little Monkey wakes up because she has to go potty.  She quietly gets down off her bed, and does the deed on her own without waking mommy up.  (Mommy is very proud of her for this, it is indeed a huge accomplishment, plus mommy is not getting a 3 am wake up call!)  After returning from the bathroom excursion Little Monkey notices the fish food.  She sees that the fishy's are not swimming as fast as usual, even though Mommy left the light on for them.  (Little Monkey thought they might be scared if we left the light off)  So, she proceeded to try to feed them.  About a 1/4 of the food ended up on the floor because Little Monkey realized that she wasn't quite tall enough to reach.  She solved this problem by placing her rocking Lion next to the tank and standing on it.  (Yeah, I really don't want to think about what could have happened.  I picture her falling and grabbing the fish tank on the way down, and the water going everywhere...shudder)
She then emptied another 1/4 of the can into the fish tank.  (thankfully the can was only 1/2 full anyway, thanks to her last attempt to feed the fish).

Fast forward to 10 a.m. the next morning.  As Mommy is taking one of the babies upstairs for a nap, she notices this awful smell.  She inspects the bathroom, yes the toilet has been flushed so that's not the issue.  She inspects the family room, no, nothing that would make the smell there.  She inspects Little Monkey's room, at first she doesn't see anything.  Then Mommy notices that the fish are all in one corner, at the top gasping for air.  Mommy jumps into action and races to the bathroom for a pitcher.  She frantically searches the linen closet for the fish net and finally finds it tucked under a bunch of silk flowers.  What are silk flowers doing in the linen closet?  No clue.  Mommy races back to the fish tank and rescues the fish.  Whew, that was close.  

Fast forward to 5:30 p.m., the babies are gone so now Mommy has to clean the tank.  Mommy hauls two five gallon buckets upstairs to empty out the fish tank.  This is a thankless, extremely smelly job.  I mean extremely smelly.  Once the tank is empty it is hauled to the bathroom where further cleaning is necessary.  It is at this point that mommy notices the fish.  Two are floating belly up on the top.  The third appears to be fine.  So, Mommy and Little Monkey hold a quick service, and the fish are buried at sea.

Mommy gets the tank cleaned and filled again, with a new filter, and adds the remaining fish.  All is well......or is it.  About 3 hours later, as we are putting Little Monkey to bed (and reiterating once more that she is never to feed the fish), we notice that the last fish is floating on its side and keeps getting caught in the filter.  The next morning that fish also got a burial at sea.
So, to recap, 10 months ago we starred off with 12 fish.  10 months later we have 0 fish.  Score:  Fish 0, Toddler 12.

On a brighter note (I think)  Daddy decided we would try fish once more.  So Saturday we will be visiting the fish store for another dozen feeder fish.  Good thing they are only $1 or I'd be broke! 
Hopefully this is the end of the fish saga!
Melissa